1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated, thermal insulation panel for outside covering of a construction, such as a residential house, which insulation panel is impervious to air and moisture from the outside but is permeable to water vapor from the inside.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Rigid polystyrene insulation material is presently widely used in residential construction for exterior wall insulation. Such insulation material is commonly available under the form expanded, molded polystyrene boards. These boards are mounted adjacent to each other to cover the entire, exterior wall surface of the residential construction.
In order to prevent air and moisture from the outside to penetrate into the walls, a membrane permeable to water vapor but impervious to air and moisture is applied externally on the polystyrene boards. This membrane must totally and adequately cover the exterior surface to give proper protection. In particular, it must seal all cracks, fissures and joints in the wall structure to prevent air and moisture penetration. Accordingly, a problem is to adequately and suitably attach the membrane to the exterior wall assembly.
One can appreciate that it is not possible to staple the membrane to the soft, pliable cellular plastic polystyrene for adequate interface contact. Consequently, the membrane is conventionally attached to the wood stud framing of the wall substrate by stapling through the membrane, in particular through the lapped joints thereof. Decision as to the proper lapping over of the membrane, the proper laps and the number of staple fixation points is left to the specialized on-site workmen. This often results into unappropriate fixation of the membrane and/or in unadequate covering of the exterior wall surface by the membrane.
As the polystyrene boards and the membrane are both breathable to the diffusion of water vapor conveyed from the inside to the outside, condensation within the wall structure is thereby prevented. However, when the membrane is not adequately applied on the exterior wall surface for any of the above reasons, air and moisture can penetrate into the wall to cause condensation and/or air infiltration inside of the wall and eventually inside of the house.
As the membrane is commonly available under the form of rolls, another problem is that application of this membrane on the exterior wall surface becomes very difficult in presence of high winds. Moreover, high winds can cause tearing of the lapped joints of the membrane during construction.